How much does a Muni meltdown cost? Wiener wants to know

Supervisor Scott Wiener hasn’t had the best luck lately convincing his board colleagues that Muni is in desperate, desperate need of more money to make its service more reliable, so on Tuesday he plans to take a new tact: Link any disruption in transit service with cold, hard cash.

Wiener plans on asking for a hearing at which Muni would report on all recent service problems, including the transit agency’s infamous Metro meltdowns — and the city controller would detail how much money those meltdowns cost in lost productivity.

Following the first hearing, the Municipal Transportation Agency and controller would also be required to furnish monthly reports detailing the same information. We’re talking the same info we usually see — on-time performance rates, missed runs, maintenance problems — as well as estimates on how any transit disruptions impact the bottom line of private employers and employees, as well as the city.

Wiener also wants to know what Muni is doing to communicate with riders when a meltdown does occur.

One supervisor wants a dollar figure attached to Muni delays.

“When a train breaks down in the subway, it doesn’t happen in a vacuum,” Wiener said. “Multiple Muni lines are affected, workers are delayed, commercial activity slows, and our economy suffers. These disruptions discourage people from using Muni, which results in increased vehicle congestion and negative environmental impacts. By quantifying the effects of Muni meltdowns, we will see how essential a well-funded, efficient transportation system is to our City’s vitality.”

Wiener last month attempted to push through a change to how some development fees are calculated in San Francisco. The change would have required hospitals and other nonprofits that undertake large-scale development projects to give Muni more money for maintenance, infrastructure and service. But he was stymied at the Board of Supervisors. But he was stymied at the Board of Supervisors. Now, Wiener is looking to better define what Muni’s problems cost, and what it needs in order to improve.

“Both the public and City Hall policymakers need to understand Muni’s deep operating challenges — including its chronic underfunding — and the negative impacts of these problems on riders as well as economic productivity in San Francisco,” he said. “When Muni melts down and people can’t get where they’re going in a timely manner, our entire city suffers.”